It hurts in Chicago too…..
Posted on October 1st, 2008 – 6:50 AMBy La Velle
I know Twins fans everywhere are hurting right now. I know one person in particular.
I’m the oldest of three children. As the older brother, I’ve often had to be the voice of reason and the rock of composure when dealing with my brother and sister.
And I had to be at my brotherly best on Tuesday.
My sister, Leslie, and brother, Lawrence, still live in the house we grew up in on the south side of town. My brother is a huge White Sox fan. My sister has always liked the Twins. We never understood why, we think she just wanted to be different from the rest of us, but they’ve always been her team.
My brother called at 9:03 - six minutes after the game ended.
“Did you see that! We’re in!,” he yells into the phone. “That was incredible!”
We talked for a few minutes. I told him that I’m happy for him and the Sox deserve credit for pulling out a tough game. I’m wasn’t going to rain on the little guy’s parade - but I could only take so much and told him I had to go. I was at Al Baker’s in Eagan with a bunch of friends, they were crushed, and I was steamed that my trip to Tampa to cover the ALDS was blown up.
I went home. put the phone on the counter and watched TV. I realized after awhile that I forgot to plug the phone into the charger. I went over to pick it up, looked at it and saw that my sister had left a stream of text messages.
9:55:09: (one word, rhymes with ham)
9:56:24: That was not supposed to happen. Sucks!
9:57:04: I feel for u.
9:57:07: (how was that possible?) I’m going to bed!
10:06:02: You have no idea how disappointed I am. Even though ESPN is praising the Twins for a good season with all the setbacks and roster changes, I hope the Sox get whipped!
I plugged the phone in while thinking, “I hope Larry stays upstairs in his room. I hope Leslie stays downstairs in her room. And I hope they aren’t in the kitchen at the same time in the morning.”
277 Responses to "It hurts in Chicago too….."
oh, well. Wait til next year. The optimism begins now.
Yea, the outcome was unfortunately what I expected…..Didn’t think it would be a 1-0 win for the Sox though. Blackburn pitched a GREAT game just made the one mistake to Thome [He was under some BIG pressure]. Mijares looks like a stud [does that mean bye bye Reyes?]
Twins have some nice young position players and pitchers with good upside to them. To see them play that well this year is encouraging! Hopefully they can keep developing
GO RAYS!! for now anyway
Looking into the future, I saw a lot of great things last night, I saw a lot of growth that will happen. What’s great is looking at the Sox’s payroll and age this is a blip…the division will only get tougher in the future. But I like the Twins chances.
give white sox credit they beat a decent scrappy team and won when they had to…twinkies didnt come through so dont choke on your ludfisk
The Twins should have, and could have, won the games against the White Sox last night if Gardenhire had not put Cuddyer in the lineup. Although the clumsy and rather slow Cuddyer did get a hit, he was thrown out at home plate while trying to score from third base. If Tolbert, for instance, had been in the lineup, he would have had enough speed to score on the play. However, Gardenhire had the predicted brain cramp predicted weeks ago and decided to put Cuddyer in the lineup. The Curse of the Cuddyer cost the Twins the division championship. You can’t say we didn’t warn you. Cuddyer should be traded before the start of next season or the Twins will faulter once again. Cuddyer is a Curse to the team.
Danny Gladden had it right last night. The Twins overcame alot of hurdles this season. The Twins built a great nucleus for next year, adding Mijares, Alexi Casilla, Denard Span & the young starting pitchers to a solid core of Justin, Joe, Delmon & Cuddy.
Next spring, the rotation is set & the positions will pretty much be sealed up.
This offseason, Bill Smith must address the bullpen & probably third base. My suggestion? A major league ready pitcher, Busher & Kubel to Seattle for J.J. Putz & Beltre.
Let the Hot Stove league rumormongering begin.
What a moronic comment, Steve. You’re going to point a finger at Cuddyer, one of the two guys who got hits last night? If Cuddyer hadn’t been the DH, it would have been Kubel (not Tolbert), who doesn’t bring an upgrade in speed and would also have been thrown out at the plate. Obviously, your Cuddyer hatred prevents you from looking at the game with even a minimum of objectivity and intelligence.
Nothing wrong with Cuddyer in the lineup, but they should have put in a pitch runner for him.
Several things. 1. Pierzynski made a great play to catch the ball, block the plate, make theSeveral things. 1. Pierzynski made a great play to catch the ball, block the plate, make the tag, and hold on. Looking at the replay you can see that Griffey was really shallow, but I still would have sent Cuddyer. Maybe Gardy should have pinch-run for him. 2. Mauer’s bunt almost worked. He just didn’t push it far enough from Pierzynski. 3. WHY DIDN’T PUNTO BUNT? Gardy really screwed up in the 8th inning. 4. Gardy was right to leave Blackburn in to pitch to Thome in the 7th. He had a low pitch count. Mijares only has 9 career innings pitched. And Reyes….don’t get me started. 5. Morneau is obviously worn down. 163 games played? We needed him in every one of those games. There was never a chance for him to rest.
It was a good game. Great season. Looking forward to 2009. tag, and hold on. Looking at the replay you can see that Griffey was really shallow, but I still would have sent Cuddyer. Maybe Gardy should have pinch-run for him. 2. Mauer’s bunt almost worked. He just didn’t push it far enough from Pierzynski. 3. WHY DIDN’T PUNTO BUNT? Gardy really screwed up in the 8th inning. 4. Gardy was right to leave Blackburn in to pitch to Thome in the 7th. He had a low pitch count. Mijares only has 9 career innings pitched. And Reyes….don’t get me started. 5. Morneau is obviously worn down. 163 games played? We needed him in every one of those games. There was never a chance for him to rest.
It was a good game. Great season. Looking forward to 2009.
Yum… Al Bakers… now I’m hungry!
Two hits over nine innings is what cost the Twins the ballgame, not Cuddyer. If Tolbert had been in the lineup there’s no guarantee that he would have hit either. To say that Cuddyer is a curse is indicative of a petty grudge and a silly superstition, like blaming the Cubs inability to win the World Series on a goat.
Personally, I wouldn’t have had Cuddyer in the line-up either. I’d have gone with Kubel, even though it would be lefty against lefty, but I don’t fault Gardenhire for putting Cuddyer’s right-handed bat in instead. Who’s the only Twin last night that actually had an extra-base hit?
The loss is due to the rest of the lineup not hitting against a tough lefty that stepped up his game when it mattered. Both Blackburn and Danks pitched incredibly well, but last night all it took was single run to win the game for Chicago.
I’m disappointed on how last night turned out, but not in how the season did. I think we have a lot of reasons to expect the Twins to be even better next year, and can challenge for playoffs again.
Lets just say that if the ball had been hit five feet farther from the plate on that Griffy catch then Cuddy would have scored. It is not all Cuddys falt someone had to tell him to run against Griffys arm. That is a judgment call. I am excited to see what will happen next year. Cuddys contract is way to big to just trade him in post season We would take a loss by tradeing him then. I think he will be on the Twins next Spring but with a stable outfield I think he will be gone for a third baseman power right hand hitter. I think that is the ONE thing we will need. I am not worried about the bullpen for next year with what the new guys have shown they can do in high pressure games we should not worry. But With the new comming in and Neshek comming back Crain, Guerrier, Bonser, Guardado have to step up in spring training or they are gone. Young may be gone too I think we should keep him around he really came through the end of the year. Brian the “Butcher” Buscher will be gone I am sick of seeing him get the ball and not make the play then yell at himself because this A@@ is to scared to through to first for the out, because of over thrown balls early in the year. Well that is all I have to say. Look forward to next year. OUT
A pinch runner for Cuddy? Speed wasn’t going to beat that throw…the ball was oh-so -close to popping out…maybe if Gardy had Jimmy Kliensasser on the bench… btw..anybody know if GoGo can catch a football?
I am now the world’s biggest Tampa Bay Rays fan. Nothing would be sweeter than for the Rays to knock out a quick three game sweep of the South Siders.
First, a note on last night. Gardenhire definitely made the right move inserting Cuddyer into the lineup (for god sake, he had the only real hit), because of Cuddyer’s previous numbers against Danks and the righty vs. lefty matchup. That being said, with 1 out, and a man on third (a slow man that is) I would have definitely put a runner in for Cuddyer as it would have given you other options as to how to get that runner in. Would a faster runner scored on THAT fly ball? I don’t think so (in fact, the only way for our baserunner to score there after that throw was to knock the ball out, which a large player like Cuddyer would be better at than a Tolbert type player). HOWEVER, because the Twins were not making good contact against Danks and thus, perhaps, not expect any deep fly balls, it may have been a wise move to attempt a squeeze play there, and a faster runner on third would increase the success of such a play.
MY GREATEST concern though does not relate to this game, it’s a general feeling that Minnesota sports teams cannot come through in big, nationally televised games. Yes, we can be the “little engine that could/can” but we’ve been getting run over when faced with locomotives. Our players play FAR too tight as they’re not used to the pressure. I think this explains our silent/tense bats last night, and could even be used to explain the A’s sweep two years ago (Did we even score five runs in that series??)
In addition to the Twins, the Vikings never seem to win the pressure games. I live outside the east coast, and as such, every week I can either watch the vikings game at a sports bar with direct tv, or even better, watch the game from my couch when it’s a national game (ie the main 12/3 pm game or a sunday/monday night matchup). Without fail, we NEVER win on nationally televised games. This year is no different with losses to Indy and GB, both games that were carried throughout the country. Also, if you think back to last year, the last time a Minnesota had a chance to clinch a playoff spot in a nationally televised game, the Vikings, of course, LOST to the Redskins. Is this a product of being in a “small market”, where players cannot perform in a national/pressured spotlight? I certainly hope not, but lately, it’s been looking this way.
Anyway, sorry for this rant, but I needed to get it off my chest. It’s been such a difficult time for Minnesota sports fans.
We really REALLY missed Neshek down the stretch. I don’t think dealing for a top-dollar reliever will bring any improvement on a healthy Sideshow Pat, but we could use some intelligent, versatile, and dependable support.
And a boomstick third baseman please. Aubrey Huff or Jeff Baker would be a nice addition.
Goooooo Dodgers!!!! Vikings stink, Gophers stink worse. Monday, April 6, 2009 see ya all later
“And a boomstick third baseman please. Aubrey Huff or Jeff Baker would be a nice addition.”
Oh yeah, one more thing our team will not get a 3rd Baseman because we are the cheapest team around since the depression
I agree with sending Cuddy-that being said I think by doing that it showed Gardy and the coaches realized the Twins offense stunk and that was about their only chance for a run. Kinda disheartening to see that even the coaches knew how bad the offense was last night (Mauer’s bunt was proof of that).
Young will not be gone-why do people hate him so much? Guy hit .290-not bad for a 23 year old.
Gardy also needs to rest Morneau-meaning NO DHing.
I think its time for an outside observer to give his take. As a Sox fan, I was ecstatic at the result of last night’s game. It meant a little more because it came against the Twins who have now been the Sox’ main rival over the last eight years, even more so than the Cubs. That being said, if given the choice to lose last night and trade the Sox and Twins personnel in the offseason I’d do it in a heart beat and so would Kenny Williams. Blackburn proved he has big ones and has the potential to be a consistent 15-18 game winner. Slowey, Liriano give the Twins a solid 1-2-3 that, assuming Liriano stays healthy, will be the best in the AL this side of the Rays for years to come. Assuming Joe Nathan returns to form, Delmon Young (whose crazy talented) starts hitting at the beginning of the season like he did towards the end and Kubel continues to develop, the Twins are probably the odds on favorite to win the Central in 2009. Gomez in my mind has the potential to be the next Rickey Henderson but faster and for all you Twins fans who want to rip Gardy, I’ll have you know that 20 plus other teams would gladly take him off your hands. I hate the Twins but only because they have caused my team so much heartbreak over the years. They have caused that heartbreak because they consistently field a team that does what good teams do, win by drafting and developing talent while making shrewd trades for other teams young talent. They and the Red Sox are the best organizations in baseball and if you don’t see that then you’re an idiot and you should go home and throw away the glue you’ve been sniffing. I’d be hurt if my team lost last night’s game but ultimately what matters is giving your team an annual shot at the prize, not shooting your wad one season with stupid offseason acquisitions and trades just to win now. You traded the best pitcher in baseball and lost one of the best all around centerfielders in baseball (not to mention a long time team leader) and still came within one game of winning the Division. Don’t get me wrong, please go out and try and get an aging bat because you think Morneau needs more protection and trade away a Kubel, Span or, preferably, a Slowey. That will make me extremely happy and ensure that you will have just as many slow-footed relics with 30 homers who can’t bunt, run the bases, move runners, drive guys in from third with less than two outs, execute a run-down, sac fly, and catch the baseball as the Sox prove on a nightly basis.
WHY are you guys responding to that multiple personality troll Steve (this time)? He has been posting his stupid Cuddyer curse and obese Gardy nonsense under different names for weeks. Ignore him.
That’s a great piece of writing. Thanks for a very personal account of a very difficult loss.
Hank - Thanks for that. You managed to express as a white Sox fan what I’ve thought for years; both in terms of the Twins’ strengths vs. what the White Sox’ weaknesses. I think the Twins have every reason to expect to do better next year.
The White Sox only managed one run last night. I’m not one for schadenfreude, but if the lineup the White Sox put out last night is the best Guillen can put out there when it matters most, I don’t see things going well for Chicago. I won’t personally take any *joy* out of seeing Chicago fail in the playoffs (others will, I know. Besides, who knows, they play the games for a reason, they could win it all) but it will validate to me why I feel better about my team than our AL Central rivals’ teams.
Hank
Well put. After seeing many posts wishing harm and death to twins players on sox blogs, it is refreshing. Surprisingly objective for a Sox fan. Unfortunately for Sox fans, I think you are absolutely right. Your team is going to get old and bad real quick, just like the tigers, and the young Twins, barring any foolish trades, will be good for years.
The Twins need to get more power in their lineup. The White Sox had five players with 25 or more home runs, the Twins have one.
Sending Cuddyer on a short fly ball (”pop up”) was a mistake.
Our starting pitching is pretty well set for next year. Mijares will be our 8th inning guy.
We need a third baseman who can hit and hit with power. Gary Gaetti where are you?
Seth, well said. Completely agree that we’ve had difficulty winning the big game lately. Hopefully this is not a product of our small market.
Denny,
Hate to tell you this but the Twins had zero players with 25+ home runs in 2008.
Punto had 25 home runs, didn’t he? Oh, wait. Those were weak pop ups to second.
You can’t fault Gardy for going with Cuddy. He had one of the only hits.
Morneau was tired, but we needed him in every one of the 163 games in which he played.
The decision to leave Blackie in to pitch the seventh was correct, his pitch count was low, and why bring in a kid in that kind of pressure situation?
After losing Santana and Hunter in the off season the expectations for this year’s club were pretty low. They played their guts out all year long. We got to watch meaningful baseball all the way until October. New York, Cleveland and Detroit with their enormous payrolls can’t say that.
We have a great core. Next year we will be better. Thanks for a wonderful season!
All of CHICAGO knew it would end
this way, we are just tooooooo
good not be in the World Series.
We will be up against the Cubbies!!!
Come on, get on the bus!!!!!!
Go WHITE SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gardy made the right choice in starting Cuddy. He also made the right choice in not pinch running for him. It was the 5th inning - who do you put in for him? I’m sure Tolbert is a bit faster, but then you have Tolbert batting instead of Cuddy next time up.
And as for the argument that it wasn’t speed that kept Cuddy from scoring - scoring from 3rd on a shallow fly is always about speed. Casilla, Gomez, Span, Young, maybe even Punto would have scored, since they’d have been about 5-10 ft. ahead of Cuddy by the time they got to the plate, far enough ahead they’d have made a sweep slide and scored. But they were all in the game so obviously they couldn’t run for Cuddy.
Hank - thanks for the post, I agree with everything you said about the Twins.
Steve
It is not a product of our “small market”. The market is not that small. it is, i think, the 12th or 13th largest market in the country. Rather, it is a product of our players being younger than our competitors players (for the time being, in the case of the Twins), and with the vikings, it is a product of inferior quarterbacks and coaches. With the Wild, it is an outdated style of play, and with the T-wolves, it has been poor, well, everything.
You really think we’re rooting for the Sux now Nancy? Go Rays!
Nancy,
I wouldn’t pack for more than 3 or 4 post-season games…
Sincerely,
DIGGITY DAZ
Grover, you not have had to leave Tolbert in for DH, he could have put in Kubel when the at bat came up. I was very disappointed when Cuddy got the double and Gardy did not bring in a pinch runner for him. Our best chance of scoring and we leave the gimpiest guy on the team out there?
Sean
The indians do not have a huge payroll
nancy lawrence
you are a delusional moron if you think the white sox are “too good not to win the world series”. I will be thinking of you and your smugness, with a smile on my face, when the white sox are eliminated.
I’ll be eargly looking forward to the twins signing a new deal for Mr. Joe. He’ll probably run $40M per sideburn, but do it now before the sirens of free agency start calling.
I for one, while still sad, would rather loose last night’s game with our team then win their’s. It’s going to be fun to watch Gomez, Span, Young, Blackburn, Lariano, Baker, Slowey, Casilla, and all the other young guys come into their own. 2010 WS champs!!!!
Here’s one Twins fan who will be cheering for the Sox to go deep into the playoffs. The Twins and Sox played to a standstill this year, while the Eastern Seaboard Propaganda Network dissed the AL Central Division as a sub-par mess since their picks of the Tigers and Indians didn’t come true. I’m hoping the Sox crush Tampa Bay, then crush the other Sox (or Angels), just to give the coastal boys a good case of dispepsia.
Thanks to the Sox for a great rivalry!
I understand the whining - now all you have left is the Viqueens.
Cuddy’s stats are nice against Danks, but I thought it was kind of a slap in the face of kubel, the starting DH most of the year,who also has nice stats against danks, that cuddyer started. It may be selfish, but were I Kubel, I would be pissed.
First of all, as another White Sox fan (besides Hank), I would like to congratulate both teams for a good game and a season of overachiving. There are probably alot of Twins fans who are upset and are rooting for the Sox to fall in the playoffs–not the typical good sportsmanship I’d expect from the “Minnesota Nice” group. (yes, I used to live there). Anyway, regarding the team makeup, the Twins extract every ounce of talent that they get from their farm system and have always been fundamentally sound in playing the game. However, going all the way back to the days of Kirby (when Griffith wouldn’t pay the man his due), this is a small-time market and the front office can’t attract the difference makers to come there and put it over the top. But, look at it this way–Milwaukee and Kansas City are small markets too. Would you trade your succcess for theirs? As for the Sox, we lost our top HR hitter (Quentin), starting pitcher (Contraras), 3B (Crede) for critical parts of the season and were able to overcome the challenges and win. Give us some credit,ok? And by the way, the Sox aren’t totally old–they do have some young talent in Danks, Floyd, Quentin, and Ramirez. The future is still bright for us too. Old? Worry about the Tigers and Tribe for that(they’re the ones getting older and breaking down).
Here’s to a great 2008…
Bluewater
The Brewers can do the same thing. Thats who i’ll be rooting for, as much as I dislike CC Sabathia and the way he wears his hat.
Kubel had this chance last night and looked awful.
Tony
A couple of flaws in your argument. In both 1987 and 1991, the Twins got top tier players, either through trade, or free agency, to put them over the top. In ‘87 it was Reardon and Blyleven, and in ‘91 it was Chili davis and Jack Morris. Also, I don’t think Puckett ever had any problems with the Griffiths, he only played a couple of years under that ownership. Rod Carew had problems with the Griffiths. Also, the twins were not fundamentally sound this year. I got sick of hearing that from reynolds last night, too. He must be too busy sexually harrassing people to pay attention.
here’s a little something to chew on for those of you that would like to get a big bat to support our young hitters
this is the forbes listing of team earnings http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/33/biz_baseball08_The-Business-Of-Baseball_Income.html
go to the last column and click it to sort the earnings. it interesting. another thought-the startrib listed the median home price in the twin cities as 200000. if you had a net worth of a million dollars, you could buy one house a day for 5 days. to give you a perspective pohlad is listed on forbes.com as having a net worth of 3.1 billion dollars. that means he could buy 15500 of those houses. or to put it another way- he could buy a house a day for the next 42.4 years. the median household income for minnesota is 55800. the average season ticket for target field 1640, 20 dollars per game. that means to purchase 2 season tickets will cost 5.87 percent of one’s gross income. twins payroll this year is 56,932,766. that is 1.83 percent of pohlads net worth. taxpayers are picking up 392 million of the cost of this new stadium. take this as you will, all i’m saying is that in these hard times, thanks in large part to bankers (where home grown pohlad made his Billions)- i want to see a comittment to our community. a legit free agent would be a good start
To the white sox fans - what do you think about the fairness of the game being played at the Cell? Under the NFL’s rules (which I find to be better), head to head controls, and thus Minnesota would have won the division at Wednesday game (not to mentioned Tuesday’s game) should have never been played.
You got the game to the Cell because of a coin flip, not what you did on the field. And in my opinion, the Twins would have covered that one run in the dome. So white sox fans, don’t feel so proud of yourselves. Especially because we’re STILL ahead in the season series 10-9, with 10 of the games being at your home ball park.
I can only say I agree with starting Cuddyer because it worked out. What I do not agree with is pinch hitting Kubel for Gomez in the 9th. What the Twins do best is play for one run - and that doesn’t mean hoping for a home run. That seemed to be the plan with inserting Kubel. You leave Gomez in he has more than one way to get on base. Then Jenks is faced with the same situation he was in when the Sox blew that five-run lead last week. That’s my thought, but I’m certainly not saying that was the game right there.
I hope that Morneau does not get any serious consideration for MVP. Yes, he helped the Twins get to where they did, but he was basically MIA this past week when his team really needed him. His absence affected the other players around him.
This was the longest season ever for me with all the drama surrounding Torii and Santana - there never seemed to be an off season.
That game was a microcosm of the season. The White Sox continually trying to give us the division and us doing our best not to take it. Our youth and inexperience was evident again, just like it was in the KC series, just like it was the last 2 months. We have no one to blame but ourselves really.
One thing’s for sure, we did NOT get after it.
Come on Steve,
IT’S OVER!!!!!
Do you all forget we won the World Series and are so capable of doing it again!!!!!!
You’ve got to be kidding me!
I hate Selig and want no part of the Brewers. Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!
Morneau will get plenty of consideration, given that there are no other obvious choices.
I’m pulling for a Phillies - Rays WS.
A great season.
Need a big bat.
Trade Kubel for a bat.
You’ve got to be kidding me!,
Do you think it might go to a pitcher, ala Willie Hernandez?
nancy lawrence
I did not know that the short bus has an internet connection.
walter
I don’t think a pitcher should ever win MVP. the best player in the american league this year was Grady Sizemore. Give it to him.
sox - brewers WS
gotta love it
Here’s my big thought for the offseason: with 4 starting-caliber outfielders (yes, that includes Gomez because no one can cover center like he does - stop focusing on his offense, people), who’s the one to go? My vote would be to trade Cuddyer for a good 3B (Buscher the Butcher doesn’t quite do it for me, and neither Macri nor Harris is the answer).
Keep Young in left (the guy’s only 23 and Cuddy is 29), Gomez in center and Span in right. Cuddyer is a valuable trade piece and is kind of the odd man out in the outfield. He’s not going to get better, unlike the youth and potential that has been the starting trio. I know the Twins have looked into Garrett Atkins; would a Cuddyer for Atkins swap be in the cards?
As a lifelong Twins fan– I too am disappointed, but I can’t find fault with the White Sox because they won a coin toss. Those were the rules going into this– you need to change the rules before– not after.
I also think Tampa Bay will flounder– and the White Sox will beat them. Not that I am a White Sox fan by any means— but Ozzie is entertaining. A White Sox/Cubs series would be good for baseball. It would create more interest than a Dodger/Angels series.
Just so the Red Sox don’t make it!
Big Jimmy (and anyone else tempted to stain this blog with ludicrous trade ideas)
NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WILL TRADE ANYTHING OF VALUE FOR CUDDYER! MAYBE NOTHING AT ALL, GIVEN HIS CONTRACT! Let’s imagine you are the Colorado Rockie’s GM. You have Garrett Atkins, a nice third baseman you’d like to move. Would you trade him straight up for an overpaid, injury prone right fielder? No, you would not.
You’ve got to be kidding me!
I agree on pitchers not getting MVP. They have their own award. It will probably go to one of the Red Sox players.
I think Miguel Cabrera ended up with better numbers than Sizemore. Cabrera came over and did his job.
Not that I want to trade Cuddhyer– But Seattle might take him in a trade, as I don’t think the Seattle FO is in their right mind.
walter
I disagree. Cabrera came over too fat to play third, where the tigers wanted him. I have a hard time taking him seriously, when he does not take his job seriously. He’s out, due to laziness.
I think the Twins need to guard against some assumptions. Namely, it is not a sure thing that Casilla or Span will come anywhere close to matching their numbers from this year, next year. I think the Indians got burned by thinking that a part-year player like Asdrubel Cabrera could do this year what he did at the end of 2007. Let’s see if Span and Casilla, both of whom seemed to be slipping a bit at the end of the year, can do it next year before we trade Kubel or Cuddyer, who are our only players besides Morneau with 20 homerun ability. So I would still look for a shortstop, second baseman, or third basemen with some power, as major needs.
I think we could swing a deal to trade Cuddyer to the White Sox. Kenny Williams loves slow, overpriced players with the potential to hit HRs. I think Williams gets some percentage for every firework they shoot off after dingers at US Cellular.
Rick Blaine
Not even Seattle would take Cuddyer. Don’t get me wrong, i like cuddyer as a player and team leader when he’s healthy, but that is rare. If the Twins pay part of his salary, and include an upper-midlevel prospect, then they may get value. But Cuddyer straight up? You get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!
You’ve got to be kidding me,
Points well taken. Although you may be upset with Harold Reynolds, the reason that I commented on the “fundamentally sound” area, is again, most teams don’t do the “Little Leaague” things taught to you anymore: sacrifice bunting, hitting to the other side to advance the runner, hit and run, pitchers thowing strikes, few walks, etc. Now this season, I saw a few breakdowns with the Twins in a few games, which was unusual for them-and the problem with a “small ball” team if you get behind you don’t have the guns to get out of the hole. But your team is young and will get better. A better ooncern is the change in the new venue to play baseball in–when that goes into play, the dynamics of the team has to change.
And as for the free agent talent–yes you do have Reardon, and Blyelven and Davis, etc. But it was Puckett, Hrebek, Giatti and Viola(and later players like Oritz, Knoblauch and Ratdke)who were the farm system talent that stabalized those teams and built the future where you are.
I’ll relish the season the Twins had, and not lament unfinished business.
Probably, the team just ran out of gas. Our big horse maybe tried to do too much.
But, I will take this season any year! The team had a chance, what more can you ask for?
I am not happy the Twins lost, but it has been a fun ride. And, because this Central Division stuff is like sibling rivalry, I will pull for Ozzie’s boys now and be eager for next spring.
Hahahaa I love it…I loved the look on the Twins faces after the game in the dugout crying like little girls…never have been happier with ruining another teams season…good ridance you guys are losers and suck and I am gonna North all over all of you…right in your eyes…gooooooo everywhere…your gonna be blind…TWINS SUCK SUCK SUCK season over LOSERS…pathetic…Kubel is GAY…skeet skeet skeet on all you hoes…DYEDYEDYEDYE SOX forever we will never lose another game to you losers once you guys get your new stadium..thank god the twins didnt make it cause no one would watch them in the post season…JOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNnn let off some steam Bennett…daddy daddy? Not daddy…thats right matrix you did!!! bitbitbitbit stay tuned for the first annual bitty awards coming April 09′ hosted by movie guy with musical performances by eddie murphy and jordy…The bears will own the vikings too they suck NO is gonna embarass them on national TV just like the sox dominated the twins all year wasnt even close…open you mouth twins fan you have been NORTH’d…
Sox fans never disappoint, do they?
With Delmon, Gomez, Span in the OF and Kubel as the primary DH, is there a reason they can’t move Cuddy back to 3rd for next season?
Iceman
I can ask for more. Like making the playoffs? A division title? Getting to the world series? Winning the world series? They had a nice season, but to say “What more could you ask for?” in a year when the team did not even make the playoffs, is just silly.
Does that guy know that Peter North is bisexual?
Keep in mind the 84 Twins had a load of young new faces who learned to win together and had great team chemistry. How did they do–eventually!
I enjoyed this season and am looking forward to blue sky baseball!
I don’t think that guy cares. He is obviously a moron.
I don’t think that he cares. He is obviously a sad little person, who gets his only joy from bragging about the accomplishments of others.
Iceman
Thank You!!
Ygtbkm,
Do you think this will make the Twins hungrier next year? It should be pretty much the same group of guys, with the possible addition of a new third baseman or shortstop and the addition by subtraction of Punto and maybe Cuddyer. Assuming no sophmore slumps by Span, Cassila, Blackburn, Slowey, Perkins, Tolbert I won’t say Gomez, he can only go up. Man, alot of guys played out of their heads this year. It might be hard to repeat.
Walter
If nothing else, the pressure of a pennant race will no longer be new to them. And coming up just short should leave them angry and hungry.
Most of the young guys will be fine, i think. I woould be most worried about casilla.
jritter, you were right on with your comments. The Twins can just sit idle and aassume that they will automatically be better next year. Baseball, more than any other professional sport in my opinion, varies so much from year to year. There is absolutely no guarantee for next year and, in fact, you can almost guarantee that another challenge (through injury, a decline in performance) will rear its head next season. the trick is to be able to respond to those challenges not just on the field but in the FO. The jury is still out on Smith IMHO. It was a great season in so many ways but was also a disappointing one in some ways. I do not think that the Twins can afford to stand pat and hope for the best next season. Smith needs to strenghten this teams bench and the 3rd base position while adding some pop.
Why do I always feel like I am driving into a ghetto in the middle of a corn field while heading into Chicago. Another thing is why do people from Chicago always try to hop into conversation’s regarding LA and NY. They are a cute little ghetto town in the middle of a corn field. But as far as comparing the city to LA or NY just stay out of it.
Wow - Great game and year for two unexpected teams. Sox deserved win especially when you consider their two all stars were out for the end of the season. I believe Crede has been out since late July and Quentin for at least the September run. Imagine the Twins losing Mauer & Morneu for that period of time.
As a Sox fan i would like to apologize for the comments of Peter North. The Twins had a great year and i can only surmise the Mr. North is a Cub fan masquerading as a Sox fan. Congrats to the Twins and i would agree that the future is much brighter for them with all the youth and potential that they posess. As someone with ties to the Twin City area, the rivalry has been and will be a lot of fun to watch. If the Twins had won i would have rooted for them to go all the way and it would have been especially sweet to see them thump the Cubbies in the W/S. Unfortunately i don’t beleive the Sox have the talent to go all the way this year, so it’s ANYONE BUT THE cubs.
I am critical of my team, in that they are essentially a softball team, and the Twins remind me of the 2005 White Sox. That said, in the last 6 games of the season, the Sox had some REALLY bad calls in 4 of the 6 games. I’m not one to cry about a bad call here or there, because they go both ways, but two of the games were one run games, and the blown calls caused a run. And these weren’t subjective calls, they were clear and positively bad calls. A couple off the top of my head were the pickoff at 2nd agains the Twins, the foul ball on the line against the Twins, Gomez being struck out but it not being called, and a 1st bag tag against the Indians that was missed because the ump didn’t get into postion. Anyway, these last two weeks would have had an entirely different feel if just half of the blown calls wouldn’t have happened (just half!).
I lived in Chicago for 2 years (burbs now) now and thought it was a great city. Don’t know why you have to rip on it “Ozzie.”
Chicago is no LA or NY and they always try to shove there nose in the big city conversations and they will never be an LA or a NY type area
Come on Lamaar,
I don’t like the Cubs either, but it’s a Chicago team and I am all for Chicago!
As far as a ghetto town, I’ve seen alot worse in Minnesota. Actually, I think
they refer to them as Garbage dumps
with houses on them.
You can’t help but love Ozzie!!!
He’ quite entertaining!!!
Yo “Ozzie is an idiot.” Chicago has some of the best architecture in the world. Not just the country, but the world. This isn’t a subjective opinion either, you can dig a little or ask anyone in the industry. This city is amazing and heartbreaking on many levels. No it will never be NY, unless NY ends up underwater. And LA is a joke. Chicago, SanFran, and Seattle are where it’s at, in my opinion. Minneapolis is a giant suburb with a tiny downtown. I know, I spent 4 years there.
“I believe Crede has been out since late July and Quentin for at least the September run. Imagine the Twins losing Mauer & Morneu for that period of time.”
Exactly!
NY, LA and Miami are more like it.
nancy lawrence one day you should try driving from the South Side after a game to beautiful Gary, Indiana. I tried it and I must say everyone on this blog should at least try this once in there lifetime
Just think how good the team will be next year when they add Rondell White, Batista, Everet, Craig Monroe, Ponson and Livan Hernandez to the current roster. Then when the bullpen struggles and the call for help brings something called Randy Ruiz, how can anyone not be super excited? I already have my spot picked out for next years World Series victory parade!
Go Sox! Go Fed! Why do the people of Chee-Cah-Go always feel it is necessary to jump into conversations regarding NY or LA. It is kind of like when the NBA talks about Magic and Bird and then stupid Isaih has to jump into the conversation. Everytime.
Losing Neshek was the biggest blow. If he would have stayed healthy, we wouldn’t have blown half the games we did down the stretch. Very good season, more than any of us expected.
With all the money Pohlad saved on payroll this year, Bill Smith needs to find a good power hitting 3B, maybe a starting SS and one decent RH reliever. Hopefully Carl will give him the go ahead to built some momentum going into the new park. As for the tie-breaker, we all knew the rules going in, but the coin flip still burns me. Joe Nathan said it best “all season the division games mean something, and then they mean nothing.” Like Morneau said as well, Saturday’s 4-2 loss to KC is the one game that will haunt us the most this winter.
AJ
Been there done that.
Indiana is Indiana.
Try Michigan avenue, the Gold Coast,
it’s much nicer.
I’m not sure why everyone is eagerly awaiting the new stadium. HHH is not a good place to play baseball, but the Twins have learned to play there, and it’s a HUGE homefield advantage because of it. I think it makes a difference of 5 games over the course of the year. Playing in the new stadium, the Twins would have finished 5 games behind this year. Also, they would not have won world series in 87 or 91…no way. And finally, instead of having 4 titles in the last 7 years, they might have one, or two at most.
nancy lawrence Rock n Roll McDonalds? Michael Jordan’s restaurant. The Cass Hotel
Hey Everyone,
Nice blogging with you, gotta go,
got a new recipe, deep fried twinkies,
I’ll let you know how they turn out.
AJ
You are so right! There are absolutely no bad areas of town in NY or LA.
loser
I just laughed last night when I saw Tim McClelland working the plate. What a joke! He squeezed Blackburn a lot especially when Thome walked in the third inning. Fortunately it didn’t hurt us at the time, although Blackburn had to face more hitters than he should have. This guy loafs around like he invented the game with his delayed calls and his dead man walking demeanour. He worked last year’s NL one game playoff and fans in San Diego are still waiting for Matt Holliday of the Rockies to touch home plate. How do you get a playoff game when you totally screwed up the year before? I wish George Brett would have grabbed his pine-tar bat and clubbed McClelland right over the head back in 1983.
AJ, not too many people can drive to Gary, IN twice in their lifetime (you know why).
AJ,
next time you’re in town, try Ditka’s
Chestnut off Michigan, great Pork Chops.
Walter, I’m not sure why you’re getting down on Morneau. How many people in MLB did you see playing 163 games this year? Gone for a week? There the entire season!
Go Sox! Go Fed!,
Can you also list the blown calls and missed strikes that went Chicago’s way? There were a few.
This team sinks or swims with Morneau. He carries them on his back and when he doesn’t they don’t win. This goes back to 2007. I’m not saying it’s fair. The FO needs to get him some real help. But at the same time, I can’t give him my vote for league MVP because he didn’t come through when it mattered most, as much as I love the big Canuck.
Why am I JP now?
Playing Cuddyer was the right move. Kubel was the DH most of the year, but he didn’t play against all left-handers. I have no problem with that.
Pinch-hitting Kubel for Gomez was another obvious choice. The Twins needed one run and Kubel was the only guy the Twins had that could have done that. He was right on three straight 98+ mph fastballs before the slider got him.
Cuddyer isn’t and shouldn’t go anywhere. I think everyone here has forgotten that he is a pretty good ball player. I am pretty certain he will be the team’s starting RF next year and the following, and I think that is the right thing. How the rest of the outfield shapes up should be very interesting.
AL MVP - A week ago, my vote was 1.) Morneau, 2.) Youklis, 3.) Mauer, 4.) Pedroia.
Now, I think my vote would be 1.) Mauer, 2.) Youklis, 3.) Morneau, 4.) Pedroia.
How it will end up: 1.) Pedroia, 2.) Morneau, 3.) Youklis, 4.) Mauer.
Not in the past week there weren’t. Not ones that they replayed to clearly illustrate the point.
I don’t know why anyone would try to slip Chicago into a coversation about LA. LA is one of my least favorite cities in the US. I’ve done a lot of traveling through the US and I really think NY is the greatest city, but Chicago, SanFran, and Seattle are great cities for LIVING.
And clearly you’ve never driven into NY, only flow in. If you drive into NY through PA or NJ (and exit at least once), you’d think Gary is a laughable industrial park. They do a pretty good job hiding the ugly places from the road in NJ and PA, but they’re very scary.
Aftershock, the new park will be tailored to the “Twins Way” of playing. You think it won’t?
As for the 87 and 91 series wins…Allot of things factored in but my opinion is they had one of the most clutch players in baseball….Kirby Puckett!! Twins don’t have a player like Puck on the team right now
Seth,
If Cuddyer is the starting RF, who goes? Please don’t say Delmon will be traded or Gomez will start the season in AAA.
Go Sox! Go Fed! Now Kansas City is a great city. San Francisco I have never seen a warm day there. Oh I remember how much I missed the rainy day’s while walking through China Town and the nap cabbage flooding the streets and sticking to me and that horrible smell of Lower Haight Asbury. San Diego is pretty nice. Palm Springs.
“but Chicago, SanFran, and Seattle are great cities for LIVING”
Wind, rain, rain always cold and cruddy outside. Good place to live if you are a shut in
Call Me Stupid
You are absolutely right. There are a lot of ways to doctor a baseball field, and my guess is that the groundskeepers will taylor the field to the Twins strengths. Hard-packing the dirt in front of home plate, and letting the grass grow longer in the infield, are 2 ways to accomplish this.
AJ says:
October 1st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
“but Chicago, SanFran, and Seattle are great cities for LIVING”
Wind, rain, rain always cold and cruddy outside. Good place to live if you are a shut in
Or a duck.
Hello,
After the Twins sweep of the White Sox last week a lot of people who said they were Twins fans went on the local Chicago paper’s internet comment site to gloat and talk smack.So I’d like to return the favor.
I enjoyed the 163rd game very much. The only thing I missed was Carlos Gomez sliding head first into home plate even through there was not a play at the plate. I guess he wanted to rub it in like the Twins fans do. Look for him to wear a fastball at somepoint next year.
Oh well, wait until next year, and oh yeah you can always take comfort from the fact that the Twins could not even beat a crummy team like the White Sox. See ya next year.
“And a boomstick third baseman please. Aubrey Huff or Jeff Baker would be a nice addition.”
Oh yeah, one more thing our team will not get a 3rd Baseman because we are the cheapest team around since the depression”
One name — Chase Headley. San Diego. Cuddyer and Perkins for Headley.
Or not a pansy but someone who can take a little adverse weather.
Jim,
Thanks for admitting the White Sox are a crummy team… Actually, both the Twins and Sox finished close to expected. The only difference was the absense of a 95-100 win Tigers or Indians team. You have that and the Twins and Sox are battling for 2nd or 3rd, not first.
Let’s see how well the Twins play outdoors at home when they don’t have the advantage of the Humpty dome. Their fans are also some of the rudest in MLB. Not typical of what you’d expect of the Midwest. I guess if you can’t be smart then be obnoxious.
When I watch a Cub or White Sox game it sounds like 40,000 + Roseanne Barr’s screaming. Just annoying and foul to the ear.
Let’s see what new kind of excuses the White Sox come up with when Minnesota continues to kick their butts in the new outdoor stadium.
thats the spirit, wait until next year!
Just finished my fried twinkies,
as expected NASTY!!!!!!
They won’t have any excuses. They’ll only come here to talk trash on the rare occasion that they win, and they will hide when they lose. How many sox fans do you think will come to this blog after tampa beats their asses? I will be going to the sox blogs, under the guise of a rays fan, to bask in their misery.
I’m really, really, really worried that Punto will re-sign and we will have Year 2007 all over again with him starting 150 games and punching in 25 RBI’s. After the 2006 season, everyone was on a high as we had the batting champion, the MVP, and Cy Young returning for 2007. Going into 2009, I think there is just as much optimism. Twins need to upgrade the questionable positions (3B, SS), NOT stay status quo. The Twins have a great start to the world series puzzle, they just need a few more pieces to complete it. It shouldn’t just be about making postseason anymore. It needs to be about winning the World Series. Puntos, Tolberts, Buschers, and Harris’s aren’t going to get us there.
I don’t usually take comfort in the unhappiness of others, but i can make an exception.
You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me!
Agreed
After Tampa Beats there arses I am off and typing on the Sox blog
Punto can be a part of the world series puzzle. He just needs to be an off the bench kind of a piece.
Punto can be like Randy Bush for the modern day Twins
Didn’t bush have a little more power? Cuddyer can be a modern day randy bush.
AJ
I agree with you about third base, but the bullpen is a far bigger concern than SS.
Punto will not make or break the twins next season. He is just a convenient lightning rod. BS will go a long way to making or breaking the season in the off-season and with how he adjusts during the season when the inevitable injuries and busts pop up. I have far more confidence int he Twins players than the management. I am curious as to their bottom line this season. How much they made and how much they will invest into the team.
Of course the new ballpark won’t be tailored to the way the Twins play. You don’t tailor a ballpark to your team, you tailor your team to the ballpark (doing it the other way would be pretty stupid, unless you build a new ballpark every couple years.) It’s not that the dome matches the Twins style of play, it’s just that it’s a very difficult place to play. Since the Twins play there 81 times per year, they are a little better at it than anyone else.
Randy Bush was awesome. Top pinch hitter in the AL in 1991 and he had good power. It was funny last night when Harold Reynolds mentioned how Gardy was singing the praises of Brendan Harris. However, Gardy sat his ass on the bench for most of August and the team floundered although a majority of the blame goes to the bullpen.
dana my guess for next years budget is that the payroll will go down. The Twins will not add anyone new and in fact they will probably get rid of Everett and Cuddy as to save money.
Always a Sox fan, but gotta love the way Minnesota plays. Scared me to death last night. You guys will be back.
AfterShock
I think you misinterpretted my meaning. You can absolutely groom the field of play to fit the needs of your team.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Punto is a great utility player, and should remain on the Twins as a utility player, but I know and everyone knows Gardy will eventually start him every game. As I noted before, the Twins won 17 of 18 when Punto was on the DL, and somehow right before the Boston series he began starting every game.
Jimmy, I sure hope you are wrong…but the Twins track record is not really good. I think the Twins will be tough again and never bought into this idea that they would be bad this year. However, there is no sure thing, and I am of the opinion that you strike while the iron is hot If BS tried to get the Twins the pieces they needed during the late season run this year while not mortgaging the future then my hat is off to him. If not, then shame on him in my opinion.
I will be shocked if the payroll goes down. And yes, i realize that the twins don’t like to spend money. It’s just that it would be a slap in the face to the fans if the payroll went down. The only reason the payroll went down this year, is the santana situation took so long to play out, and it’s difficult to make any meaningful roster moves until you know whether or not you will be paying 1 player upwards of 20 million dollars.
Also, as frustrating as it may be sometimes, the Twins philosophy of not wrecklessly throwing money at their problems is the right way to do things. It would be nice if they would add a proven player in his prime once in a while, though.
i am not trying to be mean in any way shape or form but I think that the payroll will go down. I think that Cuddy and Everett will be gone and the money saved will be redirected into the new ball park.
Aftershock,
You can move the fences in and out as well.
AT&T Park has a shorter LF. Why? Barry Bonds.
The now old Yankee Stadium had a shorter LF. Why? Babe Ruth.
Target Field will have a Slip ‘N Slide going to 1st base. Why? Just in case Nick Punto is around on the Twins in 2010.
Imagine if the Twins were paying Carlos Silva’s contract. Or Gil Meche’s. Or Barry Zito’s. Or Gary Sheffield’s. Or Dontrelle Willis’. It sends shivers down my spine.
I meant RF on both those.
“If Cuddyer is the starting RF, who goes? Please don’t say Delmon will be traded or Gomez will start the season in AAA.”
Span will play 6 out of 7 between the 3 positions and leading off. Gomez, Young and Cuddyer will each start about 5 out of seven at their respective positions. Kubel can occasionally spell an outfielder in the corners. Cuddyer can spend a day at 1B every 3rd week or so.
Depth is a good thing! Plus, there will/could be injuries, you just never know.
Target field will have long grass in the infield. Why? To slow down bunts for gomez, casilla, and span. It will also have very hard dirt around home plate, so those same players get high choppers to beat out for hits.
SethSpeaks
RF Span
CF Gomez
LF DY
DH and Back up OF Kubel
I would probably move young back over to his natural RF next year, and let span play left.
You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me!
Agreed Span is much faster
Cuddyer’s not going anywhere.
(I don’t think)
And young has a better arm, for gunning down runners at third and home.
Seth
I agree. Cuddy’s going nowhere. He, with Kubel, will DH and play in the outfield occasionally. plenty of at bats for all.
Where’d all the sox fans go? I’m kind of a sadist. Bring the pain!
SethSpeaks says:
October 1st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Cuddyer’s not going anywhere.
(I don’t think)
Neither were Torri or Santana. I just don’t think he is needed as much anymore. I think that the Twins will trim the fat and get something for him. Prospect’s or draft picks possibly in my eyes. Again I am just speculating and not trying to be mean
No - Did anyone think that Torii was going to stick around? I certainly didn’t.
And the team had to trade Santana. It only made sense.
No one is putting him in their category, but the situations are completely different.
On a side note can we send Childress over to the Raiders to run his kick ass west coast offense.
SethSpeaks I agree with you but it just doesn’t seem like the Twins style to pay a player a bunch to be a back up OF or a DH. I just don’t think he is needed as much and his value will decrease as the season goes on
How CAN Cuddy go anywhere? Who will pick up his 3 yr. $24M contract, especially after being injured and useless for the majority of the 08 season???
Personally, if anyone is going (and I’ll bet no one does — status quo) I’ll put my money on Delmon — easier contract to unload, underperformed in 08 and apparently not a good clubhouse fit (I know… I could care less, but the Twins FO does). Cuddy is the type of clubhouse player the Twins adore.
So what, Delmon is 23… the Twins need only 1-2 years of Cudddy before Revere or someone else comes up.
“Who will pick up his 3 yr. $24M contract, especially after being injured and useless for the majority of the 08 season???”
People/Scouts who know that he was hurt pretty much all year so they don’t make too much over that actual numbers.
Revere is more than a year or two out.
I HAVE TO GIVE LOW MARKS TO BILLY SMITH AND THE FRONT OFFICE. WE WOULD HAVE WON THE DIVISION BY 5 OR 6 GAMES IF THEY WOULD HAVE GONE OUT AND GOT SOME HELP FOR THE BULLPEN. HOW MANY GAMES DID WE BLOW IN THE 7TH AND 8TH INNING? ALSO, SPAN SHOULD HAVE BEEN UP HERE OUT OF SPRING TRAINING. HOW MANY MORE GAMES WOULD WE HAVE WON WITH SPAN LEADING OFF? HOPEFULLY, THEY WILL TRY TO STRENGTHEN THE TEAM DURING THE OFF SEASON. NO MORE BUDGET FREE AGENTS!!!!!!!!
How did Delmon Young underperform? Power? RBI?
DALE SCHMIDT
STOP SHOUTING!!!!!!
Liner
Delmon young did not underperform. Many of his numbers improved upon last years numbers. And in what way is he not a good clubhouse fit?
Seth
That may be true, but what team will pay that kind of money to a player that has had one good major league season?
I wouldn’t trade DY but I do think that the Twins may try to trim the fat with Cuddy. A bench player and part time DH should not be making 24 mill over 3 years. We do need MR help and a 3rd baseman. If we traded him and a pitcher or prospect this may become very interesting.
DY did a good job this year for the twins at the plate. His ability to cut the ball off while going towards the gap needs improvement. Maybe move him to RF and give it a go
As a Twins fan I do not see Morneau as the league MVP. His homerun numbers were down. I see Dustin Pedroin as the MVP considering his stats in ave, hits, runs scored and his team made the playoffs.
Dustin Pedroia is over rated. He is only getting the MVP because he plays for a big market team otherwise he wouldn’t even be mentioned.
Cuddyer at thirdbase sounds good in theory but the guy was a hack at third base.
Delmond Young is only 23 with lots of potential although he runs weird and can be scary in the outfield.
Young/Gomez/Span make an excellent trio of outfielders. We just may have to deal Kubel or Cuddyer before next season but I doubt Gardy will want to get rid if either.
Trading Delmon now would be “Buy High - Sell Low”. Who in the system right now could have put up better numbers than Delmon did this year?
jimmy bee you must be high. Pedroia had a great season for the Sox. As much as I hate East coast teams he deserves the MVP more than Morneau. Stats don’t lie. Pedroia is a Twins type of player.
You cannot trade Delmon too much upswing in potential unless they can get another athletic young outfielder in exchange.
vanvader I would keep Kubel he is eventually going to hit 30 HR’s and Cuddy won’t
I’d like to see Matt Tolbert become the Twins starting SS next season. The kid seems to have the right tools and could be a gamer.
A Rod deserves the MVP or Bradley or Hamilton or Dye. Not Pedroia
I have no problem getting rid of Cuddy. He’s had one decent season, won arbitration and has been often injuried ever since. Besides he tends to always let meatballs go by while swinging at garbage low and outside.
Screw A-Rod! Bradley & Hamilton!?! Where were they the second half of the season? Jermaine Dye…I could live with that but I still say when you look at his overall stats Pedroia is in the top three for MVP.
Cuddyer is good as 4th outfielder, DH, and someone to spell Morneau at 1st once in a while. If only he wasn’t so expensive, he’d be a good guy to keep around. So do you start him in RF over Span just because of salary? Of course, everyone is assuming Span will only get better, but that may not be the way it works out. So, I think Cuddyer will stick around at least for the first few months of 2009 just in case Span flops in his sophomore campaign. OR, if Gomez flops. There could also be an injury. Better to have Cuddyer around than Pridie or another Lew Ford type player.
Heh, heh! As much as it hurts that the Twins didn’t make the playoffs, just knowing neither New York team made it almost makes the pain go away.
If he played for lets say the Orioles or KC would you give it to pedroia based on his stats.
i think morneau had over 40 more rbi than did puddy. runs scored are totally up to what you have hitting behind you with the exception of homeruns. mauers #’s are very similar to puddy’s and he plays a more important position.
boston has 5 allstar players that play every day the twins 2. who has more help?
having said that morneau lost it the last 2 weeks by stinking the place up.
I agree with you Walter Johnson!
jimmy bee says:
October 1st, 2008 at 3:57 pm
If he played for lets say the Orioles or KC would you give it to pedroia based on his stats.
“““““““““““““““““`
Whats the difference what I think? You answered your own question when you mentioned Hamilton & Bradley.
Next season will be exciting. We have a set starting rotation all with one full year of experience under their belts.
We have young exciting players like Span, Young, Gomez and Casilla to go with veterans Mauer, Morneau, Punto, Cuddyer.
Our bullpen should return next year as one of the best in baseball.
The key will be what the Twins do with Buscher, Harris, Everett, Cuddyer, Reyes and Crain.
Will we pick up a legitimate power hitting DH not named Kubel? Or a power hitting thirdbaseman? One more bat could make our lineup lethal!
GGG I agree with you that Morneau might have gotten the MVP but the media had already given the award to Pedroia. Lets all cheer for Mauer for earning his second batting title and still only catcher ever to receive this honor not one time but twice.
But with that said watchout for the Cleveland Indians next season I believe they will rebound after being decimated with injuries.
Oh…and Crede I believe is a free agent, wouldn’t he look good in a Twins uniform if healthy?
I’d love to have Crede. One of the few Sox players I don’t dislike. He’s very Koski-like (including the bad back).
What’s the prognosis on Luke Hughes? Will he be ready next year? (I mean Minn. Twins “ready”, which is a year-and-a-half later than other team’s “ready”)
Who are the Twins’ free agents this winter?
Ernie Lombardi won two NL batting titles in the 30s or 40s as a catcher.
When is Toby Gardenhire going to be called up so we can have a duo like Cal Ripken Sr and Cal Ripken JR.
Speaking of Cal, Jr., as I was watching him and Dennis Eckersley on TBS last night, I was amazed that Eck still has the same hair cut he had in 1988.
Eck and Tony LaRussa must go to the same barber.
I like Crede too, but I don’t think 1 year on FieldTurf will do wonders for his bad back.
Too bad since he killed the Twins in 2008 when he was healthy.
It was great seeing Bruce Jenner with a moustache last night on TV.
“Who are the Twins’ free agents this winter?”
Punto, Everett, Red-Dog, Reyes… off the top of my head. Who else?? Guerrier??
Keep Redmond, lose the rest.
Punto: gone - he will get more money elsewhere
Everett: gone
Redmond: re-sign
Reyes: ?? - has Mijares made him expendable?
Here is the reason Morneau should be MVP: Look at what the Twins did when he was batting well and when he was not batting well.
If Morneau was not on this team we wouldn’t have had a chance to win a division. Pedroia is on an all star team, Hamilton fell apart, ARod is on a team that is stacked but could not get to the playoffs, Quentin got hurt, there is no clear cut competitor to Morneau.
He batted .300 with 23 HR 129 RBI almost a 100 Runs 75+ walks and has a hell of a golve. I mean come on this guy has the stats, yes his “overrated” HR’s were low, but HR’s are just that overrated.
In conclusion, if Morneau does not win the MVP, it is a great in justice to the baseball world. He is one of the games great ambassadors and deserves it more than the guys who where on stacked team.
The great part about Morney is if you asked him does her deserve the MVP, he would say no, because they didn’t make the playoffs. That is all Mauer, Morneau and the Twins care about, getting to play in October.
A question for everyone out there in sad Twinsland:
Where are the holes on this team that need to be addressed in the offseason?
I believe 3B is the biggest spot to focus on, I believe it will take a lot of talent to trade for a 3B and that could include one of our pitchers (Baker, Frankie, and Slowey to me are off limits).
If we have to trade one or two of our pitchers, a Veteran starter would be another good thing to look for.
Also finding one extra arm in the bullpen. Reyes is done, with Mujeres showing he is a stud Reyes is not needed, Neshek will be back so there is our set up. Bonser I think will turn out to be a decent long relief guy, once he gets a chance to start the season there.
The most interesting thing about next season is what to do with Cuddy. He may be an attractive trade piece, because I think Span has earned his spot in RF, plus he is the best option for the lead off spot in the lineup, and frankly I love Span, I said last offseason he should be the starting CF, but this offseason I am saying he needs to stay the starting RF.
Ponder all of these tid bits, Twinsland, we should all praise Bill Smith and Terry Ryan for putting together the team they did. Also Gardy, Anderson and Vavra deserve props too.
OK I am done with this ramble, sorry if it was too long.
TJ,
Even with Quentin’s injury, would the Sox be where THEY are without his production?
The Twins were missing Morneau almost as long as the Sox were missing Quentin.
That is hard to say. I do think if Quentin would have finished the season he would be the winner, but because he broke his hand hitting his bat, that really doesn’t bode well for him with the media.
But I do agree that he was the Sox, MVP, just not sure he was the League MVP. THe only stat Quentin would have beaten Morneau in would have been HR’s, his line is not even as close to as good as Morneau’s. Yes I understand that he was hurt for the last month or so, but I still don’t think he could have had the numbers as Morneau did.
Oops… Redmond has a club option in 09. Free Agent in 2010.
Eddie G is another 09 free agent.
Per Rotoworld.
Plus, I don’t think Quentin palyed much at the begining of the year.
I can tell who the Sox fans are at work. They are the only ones still here. All the Cubs fans left early so they could get home for the start of the game.
And the Cubs fans are giving ME crap because the Twins didn’t keep the Sox out of the playoffs!
Morneau had 143 more at bats than Quentin, it is hard to say what he would have done with those at bats. Honestly it is a toss up between them, but again it comes back to the media and how they would look at Quentin breaking his hand from hitting his bat. It shouldn’t make any difference but it probably does.
People ought to love the title of this article:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080930&content_id=3576281&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min&partnerId=rss_min
However, just again to remind people, “With runners in scoring position, Morneau batted .348, with an on-base percentage of .443 and a slugging percentage of .602. He had 99 RBIs in 181 at-bats in those situations.”
THat is yet another reason for Morneau to win the MVP, isn’t that what that MVP is… Being a clutch player?
Hey,
It’s almost 24 hours since we won,
the lights are out, go home!!!!
SOX FAN
Nancy,
Hey,
It’s less than 24 hours until the Sox lose.
TWINS FAN.
Isn’t the definition of “clutch” coming through when needed in critical situations?
How did Morneau do this when it was needed most i.e. the month of September?
No free agents, just keep what we grow. Middle relief is the first priority and Tolbert at SS with Punto in reserve for SS, 2B, & 3B would be an improvement.
Cuddy is an issue and it’ll be hard to trade him. Maybe platoon him with Kubel at DH since teams throw lefties at the Twins.
But no FAs. Who wants to root for mercenaries? They usually have no loyalty to the teams or the community. Since they weren’t developed by the team, what’s the team’s contribution to their skills and development? It’s zero, so they aren’t truly a product of your team. Trades are fine, but don’t don’t sell the farm for anyone.
Unless the Twins can average more than 34K fans a game, the team will have trouble keeping its home-grown talent. So, go to games. Tell people that you want Twins tickets for birthdays, father’s day, and etc.
While Pohlad has money, what’s his obligation to lose money every year? Look at how much he contributes to charities and otherwise does many things to promote the community. How many of you bloggers give anything to charity? What do any of you do for the community? Complaining about Pohlad on this blog site doesn’t count as community service.
But, hey, it was a good season, certainly better than expected by most of us, so let’s look forward to 2009. Maybe Revere will be ready.
Great exciting season. Sad to see it end in such a close game but played very well by both teams. Sox are a bunch of arrogant tools who don’t deserve to be in the playoffs. I hope they get smoked by the small ball team from the south.
A notice to Twins fans who think that their respective pains will be eased by a clean sweep of the White Sox - it won’t help at all. Being a Sox fan I can definitely say it didn’t make me feel better when the Twins lost in the first round in recent years (2003, 2004, 2006). Why? Because my team was still at home watching with no chance to compete. My only advice: ignore the playoffs and start watching some football.
Marc, obviously the Sox do deserve to be in the playoffs or they wouldn’t be. Perhaps the Twins need to learn how to win without the aid of artificial turf? I dunno. See previous notice regarding your misdirected hostility.
Dan, you obviously didn’t see the Twins sweep the Sox at the dome, with Triples, doubles and HR’s. Your over aged Sox, hit like crap except for the HR. The turf helps at times, but for god sake give it up about the turf. The sox just can’t deal with the pressure in the dome, not the turf. Good luck in the Playoffs.
GO HOME!!!!!IT’S OVER!!!!!!
Is it a Nancy who looks like a Lawrence, or a Lawrence who looks like a Nancy?
Your funny nancy, but the funniest part is that your Sox, are done too, “I” have a better chance of beating the Rays then the Sox do. So just get ready to cry like the little nancy you are.
I will be wearing my Evan Longoria shirt tomorrow. (Yes I have one. I also have Span Casilla 4-Mauer Morneau Young Gomez Santana L. Ford Pujols)
I’d bet you one of our famous Chicago deep
dish pizzas for one of your famous-
what do you have that’s famous?????
Joe-
No free agents? at all?
Who cares if next years free agents are not home-grown talents? If they help the twins get to the playoffs next year, nobody will care if they started in the twins minor league system or not.
It’s Larry in a dress. Look at those hairy legs. Of course on the South side of Chicago you never know what you might find.
The voice of reason and rock of composure…
Twins fan for life. Now on to NFL…
A little change in the old saying “I can’t wait for next year”
LaVelle if I want to read about the White Sox I will read the Tribune or SunTimes. At least put an effort into writing something insightful about the Twins or return your press pass.
This feels like 2001 all over again. The Twins were unexpected competitors. They collapsed in September…barely. Mentawankavich (as I call him, mostly ’cause I don’t know how to spell it) was quoted saying something like: “Enjoy your post season. It’s the last you’ll get in a while. The Twins are coming.” (A rough quote). I agree that next year (especially if we add a bat) looks very promising. But I’m not ready for next year yet. I would rather the W. Sox won 10-2 than 1-0. It hurts. I didn’t really expect the Twins to make it past the first round, but it still would’ve been nice to get in. Give our young guys PS experience for next year. I don’t hate the W. Sox for beating us, I’m mad at the Twins for putting on such a sick show offensively. (While I’m not burning to see them fail, I would rather almost any other team win it all). Blackburn, obviously, was outstanding and probably did better than even the coaches were hoping for. I don’t see myself being interested in baseball (first time I’ve ever said that, I think), for at least a week or two. I’ll pay attention but… I’m still in disapointment mode.
Anyway, Morneau shouldn’t (and willn’t) win the MVP. No, I’m not giving it to Pedroia either. Since neither made the playoffs, Hamilton should get it. He had a fantastic year on a lousy team, and should be recognized for it. Had the Twins made the PS, yes, Morneau should’ve recieved it. All you really have to do in that case is say: Would the Twins be here without Morneau? No. Would the R. Sox be here without Pedroia? Probably. Just as Cliff Lee will win the Cy Young on a lousy team(with Halliday deserving considerable consideration), Hamilton should be the AL MVP.
so long twinkies, one day your owner will invest in your team and get some proven veteran players, till then join the vikings, timberwolves, and that weak hockey team in the bowels of your division, sorry small market never beats big market, you found a way to win on concrete (that depleted dome of yours) but when it come to the elements put your white sox on baby!!!!!
nancy lawrence says:
October 1st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I’d bet you one of our famous Chicago deep
dish pizzas for one of your famous-
what do you have that’s famous?????
I’ll bet you one of our scummy, welfare collecting gangbangers against your pizza. Most of them up here are from chicago, anyway.
Typical White Sox fans. They squeak by and can’t win the weakest division in baseball until game 163, and now they think they are the 1927 Yankees. I’ve got news for you: you aren’t even the 2005 White Sox. You got where you are not because of overpriced veterans but young guys like Danks and Ramirez and the steroid-popping Quentin.
Plus, the only people who think Chicago “pizza” is better than New York pizza are people from Chicago.
Big City Sox says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 am
so long twinkies, one day your owner will invest in your team and get some proven veteran players, till then join the vikings, timberwolves, and that weak hockey team in the bowels of your division, sorry small market never beats big market, you found a way to win on concrete (that depleted dome of yours) but when it come to the elements put your white sox on baby!!!!!
Um… our hockey team won their divisiion last year. Also, I’m pretty sure the Vikings were better than the Bears last year, record-wise. And I’m tired of hearing about the Twins not being able to play off of turf. Their Home and away records were exactly the same as the Sox. What’s the Sox excuse? They can’t win outside of a scummy cesspit of a neihborhood? They feel at home in that sh*thole of a stadium, widely considered the worst of all the newer stadiums?
Big City Sox
Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. Our twinkies still have more world series wins that people that are not 120 years old have seen. They also have never thrown a world series.
nancy lawrence says:
“October 1st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I’d bet you one of our famous Chicago deep
dish pizzas for one of your famous-
what do you have that’s famous?????”
Mayo Clinic & the Vikings Packers rivalry
“nancy lawrence says:
October 1st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I’d bet you one of our famous Chicago deep
dish pizzas for one of your famous-
what do you have that’s famous?????”
Bad weather and cheap Carl Pohlad. I will bet you one of our Cheap Pohlad’s and cruddy overcast cold days for one of your Southside half burnt down section 8 housing projects. Say I hear Cabrini green is gone where do all of the Sox fans live these days.
what do you have that’s famous?????”
“Jumping” Jim Brunzell
Scrap Iron Gadaski
I thought Minnesota was famous for Red Beers, Lutefisk, and Lefse. Which is the same as the ingredients of a Chicago Deep Dish.
Actually, I have been to US Cellular Field many times and it is a really nice place to see a game. And it had fewer incidents this year than Valley Fair.
I hate deep dish pizza. Another thing is cheese goes ontop of a pizza
First off, US Cellular is not a nice ball park. NOt saying the Dome is, but to say that the Cell is a nice park is just plain silly, or you have never been to Camden Yard, Fenway, Yankee Stadium etc etc. US Cellular is not even remotely close to being a nice venue to watch a game, and please do not come back with Metrodome shots, because frankly I will be the first one agree that the dome is crap.
I have been to the Cell 5 times (4 times to watch the Twins) and it’s not bad place at all. Only ever had one “Twins suck” comment directed at me.
It will be interested to see how well I am treated at the “Friendly Confines” of Wrigley Field next year when the Twins play there.
I have sat in many different sections and I have always had a good seat. The food is good. It’s easy to get around. The concourse around the upper deck has a cool collage of historical White Sox photos. They have a good restaraunt.
Fenway or Yankee Stadium? What’s so great about Fenway or Yankee Stadium? What makes you so special that you think you can call my preferences silly?
I like Chevez Revene
Walter Johnson says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I have sat in many different sections and I have always had a good seat. The food is good. It’s easy to get around. The concourse around the upper deck has a cool collage of historical White Sox photos
Did they have pictures of the Black Sox team?
Of course it seems nice to a Twins fan, what with the dump we’ve had to put up with. I’m just saying, of the Baseball stadiums built the last 20 years, the Cell is the worst.
Shaun says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I have been to the Cell 5 times (4 times to watch the Twins) and it’s not bad place at all. Only ever had one “Twins suck” comment directed at me.
That is very surprising. You must be a great big, intimidating guy.
If I heard an arguement between a Bostonian and a Chee-Cah-Go native I would plug my ears. They murder the English language.
YGTOBKM,
Nope not at all.
I actually had 2 people say “Twin suck” to me at Wrigley a few years ago when I had a Twins windbreaker on (they of course were not playing the Twins). Cubs fans should NEVER talk trash but any other team.
I have been to two worse places than US Cellular and both are newer. Minute Maid Park in Houston (when it was Enron Field). That is a joke. Plus, they only sold two kinds of beer: Bud Light and Miller Lite. The roof was open, but the ends of the roof panels are so tall, you can’t see the sky unless you look almost straight up. I wasn’t much impressed with Miller Park either.
Tokyo Dome is exactly like the Metrodome (same architects?) except the roof is slanted so the upper deck only goes 2/3 the way around. BUT, they let us bring in our own beer.
Wrigley Field, I am sorry, IS A DUMP. Go sit behind a pole, drink Old Style and pee into a trough. Tear the place down already!
At least US Cellular feels like you are actually outside and you are really, really close to the field no matter where you sit.
I might also add, the Cell is the best place in the city to view the Chicago skyline. Come out of a game when they are shooting off fireworks at Navy Pier…priceless.
I always root for teams that ruin people’s/fan’s lives like the Cubs did to Steve Bartman. Cubs suck I hope they get swept. Let’s go Manny clap, clap, clap, clap, clap…..
Walter,
I was at the Sox-A’s game on July 4th this year (free tickets). We watched the fireworks at the park then as we walked out and looked the skyline we could see about 5 other fireworks shows going on at the same time (Navy Pier included). Totally cool.
Wrigley has history yes-but the obstructed seating sucks and Old Style is puke. You can get other beer though, but just have to find the right place.
Shaun,
The one thing that really bugs me about US Cellular is that every half inning they have some type of promotion. Once or twice a game is enough, thank you. Maybe all stadiums are like that now. (I haven’t been to the dome since the early 1990s)
The Cell does go overboard with that.
I see most games these days at the Cell or Miller Park. I was going up to the Dome once a year but been to busy to make it up there this year and probably next year.
3-1 Sox.
Where are our white sox fans? Surely they can come on here and talk smack while watching there team give up home run after home run?
Twinsfan32:
Okay, a Dusty or Chilli is fine, but not a salary busting super star; ARod ain’t brought nothing to the Yanks. White and Monroe were attempts to find another Baker or Davis, so these were reasonable signings considering the Twins’ revenue. The Twins should’ve keep Monroe, because he got some key long ball hits for them. Beltre is a malcontent and not what’s needed by the Twins. Any fool with money can do anything stupid with the money.
I’ve seen the Twins farm teams in New Britain and Rochester and have seen spring training games in Ft. Myers, so I’m partial to the Twins developing talent and keeping it.
Why don’t more corporations in MN spring for season tix? Almost all of the field boxes at Yankee Stadium are held by businesses/firms/etc., not individuals. However, many groups of individuals share other season tix in the main reserved, mezzanine, and upper deck around the infield, so the Yanks (and many other teams for that matter) have many seats sold before the beginning of the season. This allows the these teams to plan accordingly and set finances based upon knowing roughly what’ll be the attendance from year-to-year, especially since many season ticket holders are long term season ticket holders.
I’m in a group that has had a plan B (30 some weekday games) season ticket package at Yankee Stadium since 1993, so the cost isn’t that much per person, plus I sometimes buy cheaper seats for weekend games - such as for Twins/Yanks weekend games.
(I’ve lived in NYC and NJ for many years, but grew up in SD, so still a Twins, Vikes, Wild, & Lakers fan.)
It really is too bad the way the season ended. The Twins had their chance to put it away Friday or Saturday hight against a team they should beat. They finally had a chance to get in the playoffs with out those darn Yankees there to knock them out in the first round.
The Twins will never get over the hump until they get a legitimate power hitter. There is nobody in the line up that scares the opposing pitcher. The pitching is sufficient go out and get some HR hitters and I believe that will make all the difference.
It should be obvious now that the only thing playing SMALL ball does is keep you from the BIG game
Dear Mike and Harmon,
The Twins were 3rd in runs scored this year, without the long ball. Besides, long doesn’t always help; look at ARod and the Yanks. Even the pale hose only won as many games as the Twins during the regular season, while leading the ML in the long ball; pitching and defense still wins ball games.
How many times did the Twins make the WS when they had the long ball with Killebrew, Allison, Mincher, Oliva, Hall & others? In 1963, the Twins led the Majors with 225 HRs, but scored 767 runs, both 1st in the majors, but no post season. In 1987, they hit 196 HRs, 5th in the league, scored 786 runs, 8th in the league and won the WS on starting pitching (Readon’s ERA was 4.48 and his record 8W/8L and 30-some saves. In 1991, the Twins hit 140 HRs, 6th in the league, and scored only 776 runs, but won the WS with pitching and defense.
In 2008, the Twins hit 111 HRs, 14th in the league, but scored 829 runs, 3rd in the league.
The Dodgers hit 137 HRs this year and scored 700 runs and won just 5 games less than the Twins. But the team ERA was 3.68, first in the NL.
If the Twins had Grant Balfour and better defense this year, they’d be playing today and maybe even in the Dome against the Bosox. It was that close.
Long ball is fun to watch, but it’s kind of like golf, drive (HRs) for show, but putt (pitching, defense, moving runners over, & etc.) for dough.
Pitching and defense win games, not the long ball.
Well,….it hurts!!!! It sucks in particular when you consider that this was an underdog story all the way. And we came so very close to winning the Central, losing in a gem of game where oustanding pitching and defense dominated the evening. The facts are, however, that—although I hope Chicago gets swept right out of the playoffs—the White Sox won three in a row when it mattered most and, also, we have an outstanding young team and the brightest of futures. The real danger, I think, is for the team to lessen its intensity of play and underachieve. Last year at this time I was preparing myself for a down year of rebuilding and wondered just how close to the basement the Twins would come. Right now, I can’t wait for next year to start!!! In the meantime, GO WILD, GO VIKINGS and GO TIMBERWOLVES!!!!!
Looks ike the teams in Chicago are hurting. No chance at meeting up in the WS.
hahaha I live on the south side of chicago. i was at the thursday comeback loss at the dome. wow! has minnesota nice become minnesota obnoxious! so, i was happy to see the sox defeat the twins at home a few nights later. take that, guy with the broom outside the dome afterward! i could care less how far the sox advance… we just got ours in 2005, so it’s fine. what is really fun is watching the cubs choke yet again!!! hehehehehehe *sad trumpet* i love this game.
- a former twins fan (’87, ‘91)
Jim Souhan is a dimwit that knows little about baseball. First, he suggests trading Francisco Liriano for Adrian Beltre, Now he calls the young-garza trade a disaster, after one season. He has no credability whatsoever. What is with his wierd hatred of Delmon Young? Is it cause he is not the most talkative fellow? Cause he has tattoos? I don’t get it. It seems obvious to me that Delmon young will be a good player for a very long time. It also seems obvious to me that Souhan has a personal axe to grind. I also don’t get the mad love for Jason Bartlett. He is a no hit shortstop with a slightly above average glove.
And i realize Souhan is a columnist, and his job is to give his opinion. But once a person spouts off so much stupidity, his opinion becomes invalid. I find it hard to believe he is paid for such nonsense.
Souhan is a hack, he has been writting like an idiot for years. For God sake he wants to trade Delmon Young after one season, the kid is 23, he has a ton of talent and he wants to trade him. I understand he didn’t live up to the expectation that we had for him. But given that this is a new team for him and that it is a new stadium, he will blossom into a decent power hitter, maybe not 30 hr potential but at least 25 with over 100 rbi. We just have to be patient, hell we are doing that with Go-Go and he is only 3 months younger than Delmon.
Also I have read that Robinson Cano could be on the trade market, the Yanks want starting pitching so why not trade one or two of the pitchers we have to the Yanks for a star 2B and move Casilla to SS. I think you have to put the “NO” sign on Baker, Liriano, Slowey, Swarzk, and Deusing (sp). The other guys on the MLB club and AAA are up for grabs.
I may be a little different to most Twins fan’s, I live in Hampton Court just south of London England and have been a Twins fan nearly 20 years. I watched live on Tuesday, and went to bed just after 3am completely devasted. We lost the Championship by 1 run after 163 games. I have tried to comfort myself with the facts that have been mentioned many times here, better than expected season, great hope for the future, we made the Sox go all the way to win it. What felt best after the nightmare in Chicago was that friends I have at work and home have been there to listen to me, despite the fact many no nothing about baseball or how it’s structured. Can’t imagine how I would have felt if they had left the phone unplugged, sharing the pain and the glory is what makes baseball great, I hope Mr Neal has called his little Sis and helped her feel a little better, All I can hope that is if the Twins win it next year, she calls him constantly to brag. Come on Rays, let’s have a sweep.
Isn’t Souhan the same guy who said in July that if the Twins hadn’t traded Garza they would have been “comfortably ahead” in the division? Garza won one more game for the Rays (11) than Livan Hernandez won for the Twins.
Bartlett had the highest batting average in baseball against lefties (.379 in 132 ABs). And the Rays manager was high on him. But, I don’t think the Twins biggest weekness this year was either SS or starting pitching. Delmon was an improvement over whoever else they could have started (it probably would have been a platoon situation), and anyway, they trade was a long-term investment.
I hear you Steve. I was absolutely confident, right up until Brian Anderson caught the last out, that the Twins were going to pull out a victory somehow. I couldn’t even watch the White Sox celebrate.
Hampton Court is out by Heathrow, isn’t it?
To the person who went after Cuddyer. You do not know anything about baseball. He had probably the best at-bat in the game, and Griffey made a great throw home. That throw had to be perfect and he played a shallow centerfield. Plus, Cuddyer has the size for colliding with the catcher and hopefully knocking the ball out. As much as I hated to do it, you have to credit to AJ for making a great play. One more thing, Delmon Young should be traded. He is young enough and has enough talent that someone will take him. He made a lot of mistakes in right field this year and I have never seen anyone swing at so many first pitches in my life. He killed off so many rallies because of his lack of plate discipline. Our outfield should be Span, Gomez, Cuddyer. We need to go get a power hitting 3rd baseman, someone who, other than Morneau, can change a game with one swing. That is all we are missing.
I meant Delmon played in left not right, sorry.
Steve,
I was at the last game in Yankee Stadium with a Brit who works at Lloyd’s of London. He’s a big Yankees fan, so my company invited him to go to the game. He’s taught me some about crickett, even though his # 1 sport is soccer, then golf, then American baseball, then crickett, then American FB.
Last summer, a guy from our London office worked in our US offices in NYC and NJ. He played for us in a softball tournament in Central Park in NYC. He’s an avid crickett player and had no problem adjusting to slowpitch softball, hitting over .700 in the tournament and playing in the outfield, handling several chances without an error.
The only difference he saw in hitting is that a good crickett swing is purely inside out, same as a golf swing. However, he easily adjusted to extending his arms outward more for the power needed to drive a slowpitched 12 inch softall.
Good to know another UK American Baseball fan.
Good to see, Steve in London, that I’m not the only Twins fan outside of the Minneapolis-St.Paul area. I still try to go back to the Metrodome at least once a year and couldn’t imagine rooting for another baseball team over my beloved Twins!!! You teach them some baseball over the pond out there. PS I’m not as much of a soccer fan, but I do favor MU in the Premier League. Regards, Minnesotan in Miami.
Haven’t paid any attention, and didn’t want to, to any sports since the loss. I heard the Cubs lost. Don’t know, and don’t honestly care, how anyone else has done.
**The Twins should have made a trade at the deadline**
Gardenhire made the predictable mistake of putting Cuddyer in the lineup against the White Sox in the play off game. The Curse of the Cuddyer came through and the Twins bats became worthless. We stated numerous times in the month before the end of the regular season that Gardenhire would find a way to cost the team the division championship, and he did. We also stated numerous time that Cuddyer is a Curse on the Twins team and that his return to the lineup would cost the team the division championship if he was put in the lineup, and guess what, it did. Cuddyer, the over-rated and clumsy player, should be traded as soon as possible to prevent the Twins from senseless losses in the future.
